i guess this just got kinda drastic (kiss me just once, for luck)
by SHSL Slacker
Summary: In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, the Olympic is sunk, and two students survive. One particular siren starts harassing one; one particular mermaid starts fretting over the other. One way or the other, they meet again, though not exactly under the most favorable circumstances. [WakaSeo main, Mercreatures AU. Oneshot.]


**(soft sobbing)**

 **There's some hinted/implied MikoChiyo and/or Nozakura, but it's not really evident. Oh, and some very, very small HoriKashi. Title from Desperate Measures - Marianas Trench.**

* * *

When Wakamatsu Hirotaka awakens, he realizes two and a half things:

One; his roommate and school upperclassman, Nozaki Umetarou, is packing away various stacks of paper and writing utensils in a suitcase with alarming speed.

Two; his ankles are wet and Wakamatsu has no idea if he had a nightmare so bad that he wet his pants all the way down to his ankles, or for a different reason entirely.

Two point five; it is a different reason entirely.

"Sempai?!" Wakamatsu yelps, scrambling to his feet. He is correct in his assumption that yes, the room is flooded to ankle-height, and steadily rising. "What - What's happening?!"

Nozaki doesn't even look up from packing away his things. Idly, Wakamatsu realizes that he places his clothes and valuables in after all his pens and pencils are accounted for. "The ship's hit a rock and flooding, we're all probably going to drown if we stay here, hurry and get your things." He gestures towards the general direction of Wakamatsu's partially-unpacked luggage, then looks at him when the younger student simply stands there, shock-still and says, " _Please_ hurry, if you don't move, then I'm going to have to sit here and die along with you, you know?"

They'd only been out for two days on sea, and it wasn't like Wakamatsu had a great many things to put back other than some elusive articles of clothing. As soon as he clasps his luggage shut, the ship rocks violently to one side, and the poor boy loses his footing. He, at least, manages to avoid fracturing his skull on the side of the bed. "W-Wait?! How did this... Why didn't I..."

"You fell asleep in the middle of nowhere." Nozaki lifts his luggage bag upright with one hand and hefts his suitcase with the other. "Anyway, come on. We don't have time, and they're probably going to start running out of lifeboats..." A pause. "Sneak in as a girl. You're good at that, right? It'll be easier for you than me, anyway."

"Now's not the time for jokes, Nozaki-sempai," Wakamatsu whines, hurrying to open the door to the hallway. Then he almost regrets it, because the sight of the tilting, flooded hallway isn't something he wants to see in real life. He swallows, but makes his way to where he thinks the deck is. "Here! Let's go, let's go!"

* * *

As it turns out, the _Olympic_ sinks easily. Seo Yuzuki watches from the side, leaning against a rock, cloak wrapped around her lazily. Sakura titters worriedly beside her, talking about something-or-other; Seo thinks she hears the word 'human' once or twice, but she doesn't really keep track.

There are a number of bodies floating above water, some hanging onto wood and some slowly sinking downwards. Seo licks her lips. "Wanna come with me, Chiyo?" Finishing off the survivors of the ships she's wrecked has always been another one of her little pleasures.

Sakura squeaks, tail flying up to wave back and forth and consequently smack droplets of water into the blonde's eyes. "W-What? No, thank you! We've gone over this before already, remember, Yuzuki?"

Seo snorts lightly. "I dunno. It doesn't really matter to me." Then, without waiting for an answer, she swims across the water and approaches the nearest body - she could save time by simply traveling there by her little teleportation tactics, but swimming's more fun. She takes a seat on the piece of driftwood the barely-conscious human is on, eyeing him curiously. "What should I do for this one? I did asphyxiation and shark-feeding last time..."

In the end, Seo settles for a classic; drowning. She even conjures a whirlpool for some, because she's considerate like that. Sakura floats next to her reluctantly, bright amethyst eyes flickering back and forth between her victim and the killer herself.

And when Seo's just about moved to who she's sure is the last survivor-

"Yuzuki!" Sakura squeaks. Seo almost considers ignoring her, because the mermaid's always jittery during these times, but ends up glancing over at her direction anyway. Sakura's nowhere to be seen... never mind. There she is.

The mermaid emerges from the water, pulling up an unconscious human boy with her. He's tall and bulky and clearly not someone Sakura can carry for very long (if she can carry him for a period of time at all), but she doesn't seem to care, face etched with worry. "Y-Yuzuki? Do you think...?"

"Ah, how nice," Seo says, deigning to teleport over next to them. "You brought me a survivor I would've missed! Well, he would have died whether or not I killed him, but it's always best to visit survivors personally."

"D-Don't _kill_ him!" Sakura yelps. Then she redirects her attention towards the human she's cradling against her chest, concern written all over her expression. "W... What should I do... I can't let him die here!"

"Why not?" Seo tilts her head.

"Um," Sakura manages, eyes darting over the body she holds for an excuse. "He's holding his suitcase really tight... ah! He must have, uh, important human things in there! They might be... vital to the human race... so he's super important and I can't let him die? And he's also hurt here, see!" She points violently at a gash on the human's arm, likely caused by a sharp point from one of the pieces of wood. Nevertheless, the excuse sounds weak, even to the speaker's ears.

Seo Yuzuki gives her a long, long look. There are so many things she could have potentially pointed out there, but Sakura beats her to the punch with a red face before the blonde can say a word. "A-Ahh, I give up! Okay! Pretty please, Yuzuki? Just this once!"

"Eh..." Seo shrugs. She's let the mermaid spare several (read: one other red-haired human) of her victims before, and it's not like the human government can hunt her down and kill her. And anyway, anyone who can say exactly what happened to cause the ship's sinking is most likely at the bottom of the ocean by now, after all. "Sure, I guess," she says, sounding nonchalant, but Sakura makes a little noise in the back of her throat that resembles the bleat of a newborn goat.

"Thank you-! Yuzukiii!" The mermaid cries as she rapidly swims away. Seo reckons she's going to dump the human in the same place she left that one Mikoshiba guy from before, so the blonde doesn't bother following her and instead returns her attention to the lone (or second-lone, anyway) survivor. He's half-conscious and coughing up seawater, holding on to his piece of driftwood like it's his lifeline. Which it kind of is, Seo thinks.

"W-Who are..." His eyes widen. They're a rather pretty shade of blue, and because it's been some time since Seo's seen such before, she indulges and allows herself to stare. "Who are you? A ghost? Am I d-dead? Where's Nozaki-sempai?!"

"You're being loud," Seo says, but it's halfhearted at best, even to her. The blonde goes quiet, and though she doesn't particularly want to admit it, it's probably because she's a tad distracted by those large cerulean eyes. _No,_ she tells herself, _now is not the time, Yuzuki. You can go and admire mermen and other sirens some other day, but today is not that day! ... Well, I can allow myself to have fun just this once, right?_

"Who are you?" The boy squeaks again, staring at her in all her barely-clothed form. Seo can't say she isn't glad she chose expensive material for her cloak; it's times like these she wants to flaunt her clothing (or what little there is, anyway) to ignorant humans.

The blonde grins, baring a frightening assortment of pointed teeth. "Like what you see?" She shifts her form just a little, then thinks, _hey, why the hell not?_

The water sloshes around her as she sits on the other half of the wood. The boy makes a strangled sound that vaguely resembles a dying animal. "W-W-What are you doing?! The wood will break and, and-!"

"What'cha all worried about? It's not like I'll drown," Seo says, picking at her sharp nails disinterestedly. This human is a little more amusing than others, she supposes. A little conversation shouldn't hurt.

"I'm not worried about _you_ -" A pause. "Wait, a-are you a passenger of this ship too? C-Can we help each other out-?"

"Ahahahaha!" She breaks into a fit of laughter, clutching her stomach and cackling hard enough for her to fall right over back into the water. When she surfaces, she's still shaking with fully-displayed mirth. "Me? You think _I'm_ a human? You're kidding!" She spins around in the water, showing off her light green cloak, then points at her ears, "these aren't _human_ ears," her legs, and the fins sprouting from them, "these aren't _human_ legs," and then, her smile, "these aren't _human_ teeth." Finished, Seo props her chin on her elbows, resting them dangerously on the edge of the driftwood. The boy visibly gulps. "Well? Still think I'm gonna help you out'ta the water? I damn _live_ in here, boy-o."

"I-I-!" If it's any possible, the boy's eyes get even bigger and more doelike. "You're... Y-Y-You're a..."

"A siren," Seo finishes, already bored. This happens all the time in every conversation she's ever had with a human, so it really isn't anything to be excited about anymore. "Surprised? I know I'm not."

There is a heavy pause. Seo sighs, then turns around and leans against the driftwood, watching the boy's shivers intensify from her peripheral vision. She thinks of how she's going to drown him, but ultimately realizes it's futile because _damn_ it, he's kind of cute for a human. Just before she's about to duck back into the water and ask Sakura if the mermaid can cast just a tiny memory spell on him, the boy speaks up;

"I-If you're n-not going to h-help me," he starts, teeth chattering noisily, "then at l-least stop making this thing s-sink faster..."

Seo blinks, not getting it for a moment, before she catches on. "Ah." She thinks about it for a little, then floats away, just enough to allow the boy some private space on his piece of wood. (Now that's a phrase she never thought she'd be using.) "I'll just go, then."

"Wait, aren't y-you, like, a s- _siren?_ " The boy stammers, finally seeming to catch on to what a siren _does_. Does he think all sirens just sit around and sing folk songs? Not her, that's for sure. "So you, _you_ made t-this ship sink? You almost d- _drowned_ me?"

"Yeah, duh," Seo says, because she's the absolute best at elaborate responses. "That's kind of, like, what we do."

Silence. There's probably seawater collecting in the boy's open mouth, now. Then he seems to come to his senses, as he says, "I could have-I could have _died!_ There w-were more than a hundred people on that s-ship, and now they're all _dead!_ "

"Humans die all the time," Seo replies, expression remaining the same. "I could have died" is practically a classic line by now. "I don't understand why you'd be so upset by a couple hundred."

"Every human's life is important," the boy argues weakly, but even he's starting to sound tired. Seo considers not responding, but he sighs and says, "I can't feel my legs," dropping the topic entirely without the blonde having to do anything. Seo nods absentmindedly, not really caring. Now that she thinks about it, letting humans freeze slowly while exposed to the ice-cold water isn't so bad. She doesn't even have to do a whole lot except visit their bodies. It'll certainly take time, though...

"Miss Siren?" The boy calls.

"It's Seo," she says automatically, because giving away her name to a human totally isn't going to backfire on her. "You?"

"Y-You think I'd give m-my name to a murderer," the boy says, tone flat. Seo allows him a couple more seconds before he sighs, his breath misting in front of him, and mumbles, "Wakamatsu Hirotaka."

Seo barely hears the rest of his name after the first two syllables, so she decides on that. "Sure, Waka." She hadn't even given _him_ her full name. Seo's not horribly guilty about it, though.

"It's Wakamat-"

"Sure, Waka," Seo says again, for good measure. Wakamatsu opens his mouth in indignance, but seems to think better of it and keeps silent.

Time passes. Seo swims around his cold, floating body, talking about nothing and everything. Wakamatsu replies to them at first, but it gradually dies down to responsive grunts and "mhm"s, then eventually to nothing. The blonde checks up on him when she realizes he's gone silent, and sees that he's breathing - but just barely. Frost is gathering on the tips of his nails.

Seo hesitates. She wouldn't - _shouldn't_ do it. Sirens don't have the most organized of governments, whimsical as they are, but there is one general rule that is to be upheld at all times; don't interact with a human more than you need to. Even she knows that, and she's limited most of her human interactions to brief conversations - nothing like what she's just had with Wakamatsu Hiro... something. (Hirokata, right? Or was it just Hiro? No, can't be. She distinctly remembers two syllables after 'Hiro'.) It basically just means she's violated the one basic siren rule.

But it's not like she can do anything about it now, can she? Go big or go home, right?

Seo ducks underwater and stares at the wave currents slowly circling Wakamatsu's idle legs. _"Hey, kids,"_ she says, curling one little current around her finger. _"I know it's fun playin' with humans and all, but this one needs a little time. Warm him up, would'ja?"_

The currents shiver and whisper amongst one another, before giving Seo the affirmative and returning to swirl around Wakamatsu. It takes a few minutes, but it does look like the water around him rises in temperature enough for the boy to start breathing a little more normally.

Seo nods to herself, satisfied, as she resurfaces and draws circles on the edge of the deteroriating driftwood. With the adrenaline (or what can pass for adrenaline) from finishing off the survivors gone, and Sakura in who-knows-where, the siren's left with little to do but wait.

* * *

"Wake up wake up wake up," Sakura chants, because what else is she supposed to do? She may have brought two humans here on the beach already, but she's no expert in C-CPR!

Wait, that's right. His arm is injured! Panicking, Sakura unties one of the two white ribbons around her hair (she had foregone the red dotted ones for today, since they had gotten ripped by one of Yuzuki's nails the other day) and wraps it around the gash as best as she can. At least it's not all that big or threatening. That'll have to do for now, it looks.

Well, now she looks a little silly. Sakura adjusts her hairstyle, with her lone ribbon tying the back of her hair.

"What now?" She mutters to herself, wading back and forth in the water. Maybe she should start singing, like a lullaby? Wait! Lullabies are for sleeping, and Sakura most certainly does not want to make this human go to sleep even further! Just sing a pop song, then, she tells herself. Yeah, like the kind of songs Mikoshiba listens to sometimes.

She starts belting out the first song that comes to mind. It comes out slightly higher than she had intended, and she stumbles on the words repeatedly, but it goes along swimmingly.

Then the human before her starts choking violently. Sakura squeaks in surprise before helping him sit up on the sand and looking him over worriedly. No, he doesn't look seriously injured or deathly pale, but his skin is horribly cold for a human... nothing she can do about it-

 _Ah!_

Sakura ducks back into the water seconds before the human's eyes flutter open. There's a long, heavy moment of silence before the human stands up shakily and looks around. She breathes a sigh of relief, moving deeper into the ocean and settling beside a patch of seaweed comfortably. Now all that's left to do is to wait for Mikoshiba to come over.

* * *

When Nozaki wakes up, he registers the grainy sand beneath him and the feeling of something unfamiliar wrapped around his very painful arm. A closer look reveals it to be a white ribbon tied around his arm, where blood is slowly seeping through, staining the pure white fabric with crimson.

He also notices that he is on a beach, which can also be read as "nowhere near the second reenactment of the _Titanic_ ". Nozaki stands up and immediately looks for his suitcase, which is still tightly gripped in his right, uninjured hand. He breathes a sigh of relief and opens it, rifling through its contents.

His face falls. Every single page, every sheet of paper, all the notes he has on the main plot - wet and beyond saving. Even the pair of clothes he'd put there for safety is gone somehow, though he sees a piece of torn fabric at the side.

Nozaki Umetarou slumps downwards back onto the sand and _sighs_ , because it's the only thing he can do that defines his emotions and situation very well. Wakamatsu isn't here, and that absolutely can't be good, either. It was probably his luck that had gotten him washed up on the shore here, but his kouhai-? Is he, perhaps...? ... No.

He's quite content to sit there and stare at nothing for the rest of the week probably, but the sound of relaxed footsteps snaps him out of his reverie. When he turns around to look at the general direction to where the sound had come from, his eyes meet with a... a red-haired boy around his age.

A red-haired boy around his age who, incidentally, is hiding behind a boulder.

"..."

"..."

It's a staring contest of the century. Neither move until a splash from behind a few rocks seems to jolt the redhead into response, as he rushes over to the shore immediately. Something surfaces, something... red, or maybe orange, but Nozaki can't see what.

So, he stands up, briefcase in hand, ready to ask a question along the lines of "where the hell am I", "who the hell are you", and/or "do you have paper and pencil because I really need to make up for all my lost notes".

Then there's a blunt, searing pain at the back of his head, and the last thing he sees is a pair of wide, violet eyes.

* * *

Wakamatsu is just barely hanging on, both figuratively and literally, when the blare of a ship snaps him awake.

Seo the siren isn't there, but it's oddly warm for the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Wakamatsu blinks and stares at empty air for a moment before realizing that yes, he _had_ just heard a ship blare and that definitely means he can finally, _finally_ get out of this strangely-warm water-

Scratch that. It is _really cold_.

As soon as Wakamatsu's helped onto the ship's deck, he's bombarded with a million questions: what's your name? How did the ship sink? _Why_ did the ship sink? Are you the only survivor who didn't get on a lifeboat? Also, seriously, what's your name?

Some official-looking person - Wakamatsu sees _Miyamae Ken_ in neat, printed letters on his nametag - commands everyone to return to their cabins and positions and to leave the poor boy alone. A kindly woman ( _Miyako Yukari_ ) leads him to a spare cabin where the mattress is little more than a blanket and the pillow resembles a block of cement. But Wakamatsu takes it anyway and has tea with Miyako, because _gosh_ , he's horribly lucky to still be alive after talking to a... a siren.

He shivers, wrapped up in a blanket (read: a thin sheet of tattered cloth that probably dates back to the 1900s), suddenly feeling frighteningly cold, even after hot tea and a 'welcome' visit to the warm(?) ship. A siren. He had talked to a _siren_ , the mythical creature feared among sailors and pirates alike, the creature who sang songs that drove captains into delusion and caused shipwrecks that could rival the _Titanic_ in tragedy... he had just talked to one, _and survived._ There should really be a limit to his luck, but Wakamatsu isn't complaining.

He sighs and stands up. Maybe he should take a warm bath.

* * *

Stepping into the heated water in the bathtub after being stranded in the Atlantic for a long period of time is a very satisfying experience, Wakamatsu finds. He sinks lower into the water until only his chin and the tips of his knees are visible - the tub is small enough that he has to fold his legs to fit his whole body in.

He stays motionless for some time, not quite there, and thinks about everything and nothing. He wonders where Nozaki is, and if he's at the bottom of the ocean right now, or if he managed to get somewhere safe. (How on earth could someone who isn't immune to the cold swim all the way across the ocean?) But the thought of his upperclassman's cold, dead body sitting somewhere in the depths of the sea makes him shiver and almost start sobbing, so he directs his thoughts to Seo.

Seo.

A siren.

 _The_ siren.

Wakamatsu hears a splash in the tub, and for a moment, he thinks he'd jolted uncomfortably when he had been thinking of Seo. What immediately makes him think that _no, that was not me,_ is the sudden sensation of something rubbing up against him.

He all but shrieks and leaps out of the tub, slipping on the smooth ceramic tiles and just barely avoiding the sink. "W-What-!"

A head framed by amber locks pops up from the water, half-shaded by a hood. Seo smirks. "Yo, Waka! Missed me?"

Wakamatsu was _supposed_ to say something like "no, now get out of my bathroom, _how did you even get here_ " very loudly and very clearly, but all he manages is a scream. Seo laughs, and he screams some more. Maybe if he yells loud enough, some of the ship's crew will get worried enough to check up on him.

"Why are you here!" He manages. It's more of a wail than a question, and the words are mostly garbled, but Seo seems to understand it.

She tilts her head to the side, expression totally innocent. "Why shouldn't I be? Remember, _I'm_ the one who saved your life."

" _You_ were the one who threatened it in the first place by sinking that ship!" Wakamatsu retorts. "And-And _how_ did you even get here?!"

"I'm a siren. I can teleport to all bodies of water," Seo says, her tone matter-of-fact. Then, a pause, before her eyes wander downwards. Her tongue swipes across her lower lip. "Nice."

Mortified, Wakamatsu snatches a nearby towel and wraps it around his nether regions. "Why... How..." There's not much else he can say, if at all. He swallows, then stammers out; "P-Please leave, Seo-san."

Instead of disappearing or swimming down the bathtub drain (what? It's one way), Seo reclines into the tub, raising her legs into the air. Her body fits snugly in the tub, and her legs are lifted just high enough for the curve of her rear to peek out from the surface of the water and wow Wakamatsu needs to stop. "Don't feel like it," the siren says simply.

"Why not?! Two people alone together in a bathroom isn't going to lead to anything good!"

Seo shrugs, splashing the water with her feet relaxedly. Wakamatsu tries not to stare at her legs and focuses on the sea-green fins attached to the sides of her ankles and knees instead. "Just 'cause. And I'm kinda lazy."

"How did you know I was here, anyway?" Wakamatsu asks cautiously, stepping back a few ways away. "There could be a lot of other people taking baths at the same time as I am!"

"I asked the currents." Seo's arm drops into the water and comes back out gripping a long, lime-green shawl. She drapes it along her shoulders lazily, joining the cloak she already has on.

Wakamatsu stares at her.

Seo shrugs once more. "What?"

He shakes his head, closing the toilet seat and sitting on it, keeping a firm grip on the towel he has around his waist all through out. "Just... whatever." He can't really bring himself to try and make sense of the siren's answer. "But, Seo-san, I was just in the middle of taking a bath... could you please leave now?"

"What, you don't want to take a bath together with a pretty, beautiful girl like me?" Seo asks, her face totally straight. Wakamatsu chokes on air and hastily scrambles away when the siren props her elbows up on the edge of the tub and rests her chin on her palms. "I don't bite. Well," she adds, as an afterthought, amber eyes drifting down shamelessly once more, "unless that's what you're into, then hey, I like to say I'm pretty good at that."

"Stop talking. Please," Wakamatsu begs, refusing to look at the blonde. His face feels like it's on fire, even after that unnerving coldness he had gone through. His fingers still feel chilled to the bone. "I d- _do not_ want you to... do anything! At all! Except leave and never come back!"

Seo sighs, blowing a stray golden lock out of her face. "But I'm bored."

"Don't you have... I don't know... friends...?"

"Chiyo's off with her new boy-toy somewhere."

"Places to go, things to do, ships to watch, songs to si... I mean, not sing?"

Seo scoffs but doesn't say anything. Wakamatsu opens his mouth to press it further, but the siren shoots him a look so dirty that the boy immediately lets it go. Coughing, he stands up to face her properly and redirect the topic to "please leave my bathroom _right now_ ", but Seo speaks first.

"Yo, Waka," she starts, picking at her clawed hands... _clawed hands?_ "Know anyone with black hair, holds their suitcase seriously tight, and had a whitish shirt on today?"

A pause. "Nozaki-sempai?!" Wakamatsu cries, stepping forward (and then stepping backward again, because the glint Seo gets in her eyes when he gets closer is not something he would like to see again). "Do you know where he is?!"

"Maybe," Seo responds nonchalantly. "My mermaid friend carried him away to ever after, probably."

Wakamatsu stares at her. Seo starts laughing (read: cackling) at his face and flicks some water over at him. The poor boy screams and stumbles on his own two feet just as the siren blows him a raspberry and ducks back underwater. Blinking in surprise, Wakamatsu starts yelling for her to get back up and t-talk to him like a _woman_ , but that's also the exact time the door to his bathroom bursts open.

Miyako Yukari and Wakamatsu Hirotaka engage in a very short staring contest.

"I heard... screaming..." Miyako starts.

"I slipped," Wakamatsu replies a little too quickly. Then he adds, "Uh, hard."

"Four times?"

"... Yeah. Four times."

* * *

"Mikoshiba!" Kashima drops the wood plank to the ground and rushes to her friend's side. "Are you alright? He tried to hurt you!"

"Who? What?" Mikoshiba stammers, eyes wide. He's bending down in his signature position in front of Sakura, who's opening and closing her mouth like a fish out of water. Which she, well, half is. "Who was?"

"You hit him! You hit him?!" Sakura screeches, gesticulating wildly, her pink tail fin flailing about.

"Huh? Well, yeah, I did," Kashima replies, kneeling down to inspect the unconscious body. She pokes him on the side, eliciting a grunt of pain from the boy, but not rousing him. "He was going to attack Mikoshiba, after all!"

"How on earth did you come to that conclusion!" Sakura sobs at the same time Mikoshiba points at himself and says, "Huh? Me?"

In the end, after Sakura explains how this particular human is another survivor of Seo's latest shipwreck and how she had brought him here for the same reason she had brought Mikoshiba over months ago, Kashima squeaks and immediately offers to carry the boy in her arms. He's quite heavy, even for the actress, and so she has to enlist Mikoshiba's help to carry him all the way back to Hori's.

"Another freeloader," Hori says, his voice set in a deadpan. His question is more of a statement than a question by this point.

Kashima nods, smiling in excitement. Mikoshiba ducks to hide his embarrassed face. The human boy remains unconscious between them. In Mikoshiba's free hand, Sakura giggles nervously in the conch shell the mermaids use for communication.

Hori mutters something under his breath - probably something to do with "blasted mermaids" and "damned sirens" - but tells them to dump the boy in the spare room on the second floor, third from the right. Sakura breathes an audible sigh of relief.

Thankfully, it doesn't look like he sustained any serious injuries; Kashima hadn't hit his head too hard, and the gash on his arm had already started to close up. "This guy must have serious recovery skills," Hori remarks, unraveling the ribbon from his arm. For a moment, he thinks of throwing it away, but remembers that it was _Sakura_ who had brought him in.

He allows a small smile, and sets the ribbon on the bedside table before exiting the room.

Naturally, when Nozaki Umetarou wakes up, his first instinct is to reach for that same bedside table for his manga tools and make sure that Maeno hadn't come over in the middle of the night and had drawn tanukis all over the manuscript. Call it a crazy habit, but Nozaki considers his fear a very real and well-founded one. (Not to mention that nightmare from a few months ago...) When he doesn't feel the familiar sensation of paper and instead the soft fabric of cloth, Nozaki jolts to sit upright so suddenly that he's pretty sure his back cracks in five different places. "Where am I," he says, tone flat and voice dry.

The room he's in is quite the fancy one, looking much like a hotel with pristine white walls and light blue designs. There's even a television and a computer desktop set against the wall and on another nearby table respectively. When Nozaki takes an experimental step on the floor, there's a pair of soft bedroom slippers ready for use and a cobalt blue carpet all around.

Just in case, the mangaka pockets the white ribbon he had felt when he had woken up. Just in case, though he has no idea what he's going to use it for.

Well, he thinks to himself, as long as I lock the door, there shouldn't be any serial killers around. There _is_ a small notepad set on the table and a pencil. It'd be a waste not to use it.

Nozaki sits himself down comfortably - he also just now notices that's he's dressed in a set of blue rabbit graphic pajamas. He picks up the pencil and tells himself, _alright, Umetarou, time to redesign the heroine for the new anthology._

He lets the pencil fly across the paper. In the end, he is left with a young girl, her hair tied to the back of her head with a quaint ribbon.

* * *

Mikoshiba comes in the room when Nozaki's a few minutes in looking over the rough manuscript. (It's very rough, actually. The mangaka had done his best to remember the major points from his notes and had come up with nothing.) For a moment, they engage in another staring contest, but Kashima breaks it by poking her head in and staring curiously at the new resident.

"Ah, he's awake!" Kashima smiles like she hadn't just nearly broken Nozaki's head in with a plank of wood half an hour ago. (Honestly, with her skills, making him forget that had ever happened didn't actually sound too far off.) "Good morning, newcomer, I'm Kashima Yuu! I'm sorry for bashing your head in earlier!"

Nozaki stares at her like she grew two extra arms. Mikoshiba sighs. "Look, uh, we found you on the beach unconscious. Were you in a shipwreck or something?" Of course, they already know the answer, but Sakura's existence is something they have to keep secret.

Nozaki pauses. "I'm pretty sure I wasn't unconscious when you found me."

Mikoshiba inches out of the room and pushes Kashima in front of him before breaking into a sprint down the hallway. Kashima stares after her friend, mouth still set in a politely confused smile. "... Huh? Mikoshiba?"

When it becomes clear that Kashima can't explain things to save her life, she leads Nozaki to where Hori is. The owner of the giant mansion massages his forehead and explains the situation; they had "found" him "unconscious" on the beach, so they had taken him in to "treat" his "injuries". (At this, Kashima smiles like the sun and exits the room with haste.) The small village they were in at the moment was composed of several shipwrecked victims; some stayed because they had nowhere else to go, some stayed because of their acquired amnesia, and some stayed because, well, they wanted to. Hori Masayuki was the unofficial go-to person for missing persons who were last seen on ships that had already sunk, mostly because of the village's location. (With it being a natural habitat for mermaids and sirens, ships were bound to be sunk, and victims were bound to be saved. Hori doesn't mention this to Nozaki, though, of course; only the three of Hori, Mikoshiba, and Kashima would need to know about the mermaids and sirens.) Nozaki was one of the many victims; Mikoshiba had been one as well, and Hori had taken him in. (No one commented on Kashima. Nozaki decided not to, either.)

Throughout the explanation, the mangaka dutifully wrote things down on a notepad. Hori's pleasantly surprised at the newcomer's attentiveness, but when he sneaks a peek at the notepad, everything's listed in bullet form and has things like "maybe Suzuki rescues Mamiko from falling into the ocean" and "they go into the caves and Mamiko clings to Suzuki in fright?". Hori wisely decides then to never look at Nozaki Umetarou's notes ever again.

When Hori sees that Nozaki doesn't care where he stays as long as he can work on his manga in peace, the actor shrugs and tells him he can stay in the mansion for a while, at least until he finds a way to return home. Nozaki agrees, not looking up from his notepad. Hori tries not to pop an anger vein.

Somewhere in the middle of the night, Mikoshiba and Kashima visit Nozaki's room in curiosity (don't ask). They find him bent over on a desk, hand flying all over the papers. Due to circumstances (Mikoshiba trips on Kashima's long legs and ends up as the cause of Nozaki's broken pencil), the duo stay for a little bit in the mangaka's room while Nozaki himself talks about his current editor.

"Actually, the two of us were supposed to go on the _Gigantic_ ," Nozaki says, scribbling a few more things down before putting his pencil away, "but then I realized Maeno would be going on the same ship as us... so I changed it to the _Olympic_ before Wakamatsu could say anything else."

"You hate him that bad, huh," Mikoshiba notes, sweating slightly.

"Ah!" Kashima brightens. "Doesn't Hori-chan-sempai know a good editor? Miyamae-something-san?"

"Oh, that..." the redhead waves a hand in the air. "That one."

"You forgot his name...?"

Mikoshiba clears his throat. "Anyway... isn't he also a captain of a ship? How does he have time to do editing-work with captain-work too?"

"A good editor..." Nozaki trails off, staring into nothing. Mikoshiba and Kashima stare at him patiently. "... A good editor..." Another pause. "... Can you... take me to him...?"

Kashima nods excitedly. "Yeah! But, uh, he is on a ship right now, being captain-y and stuff. So maybe you can wait 'til he gets back here. His ship's sailing over here anyway."

Nozaki "hmm"s and doesn't say anything else. The duo wisely decide to leave it at that.

* * *

The next day, Wakamatsu is informed about the ship he's on; they're en route to an island (he's already forgotten its name), and they should be there by afternoon the next day, or late morning, depending on the weather. He shrugs and goes along with it. What else can he do?

There's no service in the middle of the ocean, for one, so he can't call his parents to inform them about the... change in plans. So Wakamatsu spends most of the day playing Bejeweled on his phone and avoiding the bathroom as much as he can.

He makes a big mistake when he decides to go out onto the deck at nighttime.

Well, you can't _blame_ him, per se. After all, he'd done nothing but lounge around in his room and stare at the same screen for hours until the battery had gone out. He was bound to leave his room for some open air eventually. Better late than never, right?

Incidentally, Seo the siren also decided at the same time Wakamatsu exited his room to go take a look at the ship above her. But Wakamatsu doesn't know this, otherwise, he would have just stayed in his room, under the blankets, peering out of the small window fearfully. Ignorant of the watching siren, he walks up onto the deck and leans on the railing, looking down on the dark sea, illuminated by the moonlight.

There is a nice, peaceful silence for a few minutes. Wakamatsu enjoys the view and the cool night wind blowing around him. From the side, Seo enjoys the view, too, just in slightly different ways.

"Pretty, ain't it?" the siren suddenly calls, because she's the absolute best at being subtle. Wakamatsu just about jumps two feet in the air.

"W-Who-!"

A laugh. "Waka! Fancy seein' you here, eh?"

The boy turns on his heel and immediately makes for the door back into the safe dryness of the ship. Seo's brow furrows in frustration. "Hey, that's rude, leaving when someone's talkin' to you."

"It's rude entering other people's bathrooms without knocking!" Wakamatsu yells back, fright evident in his voice.

"Hah?" Seo tilts her head. "Why would I need to knock? I don't go in the door, anyway!"

Wakamatsu sighs exasperatedly. Seo sees her chance and takes it; with a flick of her wrist, her shawl materializes below her, and the siren wraps it around her legs, before floating up and settling onto the ship's wooden deck. When the boy hears the soft _drip drip_ of water behind him, Wakamatsu turns around and squeaks at the sight of the siren on dry land, wet cloak clinging to her. "Seo-san?!"

"Waka," Seo responds, unraveling her shawl and settling it around her shoulders casually. The bottom of her cloak barely reaches to cover her thighs now. Wakamatsu has a feeling she's doing it on purpose, and so he tries his best not to stare (but ends up staring anyway, because he's a teenage boy and Seo's a siren; no further explanation should be needed).

Wakamatsu sighs again, from lack of things to do to express his feelings. "Seo-san," he repeats, enunciating his words slowly. "Please stop bothering me."

"Huh? Am I bothering you?" the siren tilts her head. "I didn't notice."

"You were _sexually harassing_ me in my own bathroom. While I was naked. That's called _bothering_ , Seo-san."

Seo Yuzuki remains silent, still looking childishly confused. Wakamatsu allows her a few moments before the blonde smacks her fist on her open palm and announces, "That's bothering?"

" _Yes!_ " the boy all but screeches. "Miyako-san came to check up on me while I only had a towel on because of you!"

"Well, _you_ were the one who started screaming and everything."

"You _made_ me scream!"

There is a pause. Seo smirks. Wakamatsu is still angry-confused, before he realizes the double meaning of his sentence and immediately feels himself heat up to the tips of his ears. "Wait - T-That is, I - Uh-"

"Sure, Waka," Seo sings, stepping forward, leaving little wet footprints on the deck. "Sure. Want me to make you scream again?"

Wakamatsu wails and covers his ears with his hands. Seo laughs, and the boy simultaneously wants to hear her laugh more and less. It's a very delicate situation for the poor student.

Somehow, the blonde convinces him to have a "conversation" with her. It's not a conversation as much as it is just Seo sitting by the side of the deck, periodically dunking some water over herself with a wave of her hand, and talking about siren culture with Wakamatsu trying not to cry at the sort of statements like "we eat human hearts for special events sometimes" and "there's this legend that sucking human blood lessens the chance for dry skin on land for us" and even "hey Waka, d'you know that it's actually pretty common to be a necrophiliac among sirens with their dead victims from shipwrecks? Wanna try that out sometime?".

Wakamatsu curls up into a ball and tries not to listen by staring intently at the floor. Somewhere into the night, he falls asleep, and Seo carries him into his room. She's pretty sure some white-haired dude saw her, but she doesn't really care. It's always fun when they think she's a ghost, after all.

Seo Yuzuki teleports back into the water and allows herself to float alongside the _Gigantic_. She considers singing her songs for the captain to die to, but then she remembers Wakamatsu Hirotaka and bites her tongue.

He will be the end of her, but she doesn't know it yet. All she does know, for now, is that she can't bring herself to kill him, and maybe that's okay.

* * *

Wakamatsu is awake before he realizes he's awake. By that, he means he can hear the vibrations in the ship caused by very, _very_ loud happenings. Somehow, he makes out a voice through it all. A very familiar, if extremely infuriated, voice.

He jumps off the bed and reflexively moves to change out of his pajamas, but notices he's still dressed in the clothes he wore last night. _Well, whatever._ Deciding it'd be too troublesome to try and think of what the hell had happened after he'd fallen asleep by accident last night, Wakamatsu throws the door to his cabin open, just barely remembering to slip on his pair of sneakers.

The ship is very, very slippery, he soon realizes. He trips three times, even with his sneakers (or maybe _because_ of his sneakers - damn those shoelaces!), before he finally reaches the deck, where all the commotion is ongoing. And there, he sees a sight that he never thought he'd see in all his life; Seo Yuzuki the siren all tangled up in what looks like a _fishing net_ , writhing and trashing her little body, with a group of people gathered around her and attempting to hold her down (and subsequently getting frighteningly sharp claws a little too near their eyes). The loud sounds seem to be coming from Seo's very throat; she's _roaring_ , and Wakamatsu swears he can see sound waves coming from her. What's most terrifying is her expression of pure _rage_ \- Wakamatsu doesn't think she's ever been that angry before, even if he's only known her for less than a week.

"What are you doing?!" he yells before he even knows what _he's_ doing. A white-haired man that Wakamatsu's seen once or twice on the ship sprints towards him, drawing him back from the tangled mess that's Seo Yuzuki.

"Don't approach her! She's a siren, and she has all the capability to kill you right here," he says, looking over at the subject in question. She doesn't seem to be letting up in her struggles at all - if anything, she's just getting wilder and wilder. The man sighs and looks back down at Wakamatsu. "You're Wakamatsu Hirotaka-kun, right? Go back to your cabin. We've got this under control."

"Why are you-?"

"She's a _siren_ , as I said. I've researched about them, and they kill countless people and cause shipwrecks all over the world. It's for the better if we start exterminating them as soon as we discover their location."

"But...!"

Whatever Wakamatsu had intended to say dies in his throat, because he realizes that this man is _right_. He'd been there to witness it for himself - hell, he'd been one of her _victims_. Why _shouldn't_ he be glad that Seo's to be killed ( _ugh_...) now? If anything, he should be _happy_ that she was going to be out of his life. But... But _why?_ Why... Why is he _protesting_ to this?

Before he can do anything else, though, the men (the white-haired one who had spoken to Wakamatsu isn't one of them; he stays a good distance away from the siren) haul Seo up after what look like several failed attempts and rush off deeper into the ship. Seo's still screeching incoherently and doing her best to kick them in the face - her wrists have been bound behind her back, and Wakamatsu can't help but mentally commend whoever had managed to do that. And with that, the deck's as empty as it had been just hours before, with only one other living soul still present, his eyes wide and heart feeling entrapped within his own chest.

Something splashes just below. With shaky legs, Wakamatsu nears the edge of the ship, clutching the railing for safety. Below is what looks like a... a... what?

"Yuzuki! Yuzuki!?" the... girl... screams, desperately craning her neck to look further. When she catches sight of Wakamatsu, though, she squeaks and falls back into the water. A moment or two passes until she resurfaces, with only her bright violet eyes visible above the water. "U-Um... d-did you see... my friend..." She looks like she's going to burst into tears at that moment, if she hasn't already - the water all around them makes it a little hard to tell.

"Seo-san?" Wakamatsu manages, inwardly wincing at how choked-up he sounds. The girl (?) probably thinks he's constipated. "Seo-san was... that is..."

"I knew it," the girl wails, burying her face in her hands, her shoulders trembling. _Oh, no..._ "She got _caught_. I _knew_ she shouldn't have come up so close to other humans and I t- _told_ her that, but _no_ , she just h-had to... sniff... Yuzuki...!"

"Hey, hey, calm down!" Wakamatsu exclaims, trying not to panic, for the sake of both of them. "I'm, uh, that is..." _Seo-san has friends like everyone else. Seo-san has people who care for her. Seo-san... if she's killed, she'll have people who will mourn for her and miss her, and there'll be people who will be sad..._ Swallowing his doubt, the student continues, "I-I'll help her! I know Seo-san, and, um..."

The girl raises her shining face up to Wakamatsu with a smile that looks like it can cure world hunger. "R-Really!? But, aren't you..." she pauses for a while, until realization seems to hit her full-on. "Aren't you that survivor from the other day...!?"

"What? Oh, well..." Maybe Seo had a friend along while she was... going around... killing people. This is really not helping his dilemma - " _help Seo-san or not help Seo-san?!_ ". "I... maybe?"

She sniffs and rubs her eyes with her wrist, before nodding. "Okay. I... I'll help too!" she grips her fist determinedly. "Mikorin should help too, if I tell him he's definitely strong enough to help out... ooh, but if they're trying to do that, then what in the sea am I going to do?!"

"Please calm down," Wakamatsu squeaks.

"Ah!" Lifting her gaze up towards him once more, she tilts her head slightly. "I-I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself... um, I'm Sakura Chiyo, it's nice to meet you...!"

"Oh, yes, it's nice to meet you too, Sakura-san," Wakamatsu hurries, bowing on reflex. "I'm, um-"

"Wakamatsu Hirotaka-kun, right?" Sakura smiles, albeit shakily. "I've heard about you from Yuzuki..." Then her eyes start rapidly tearing up again, and the student has no idea what to do because he didn't sign up for this when he decided to go on a cruise trip with Nozaki-sempai for God's sake. "Yuzuki... r-right, I have to call Mikorin! A-And maybe Hori-sempai and Kashima-kun will help too... but Yuzuki hasn't done anything for them... a-ahh, this is so-!" Much to Wakamatsu's growing panic, the girl suddenly starts clawing at her hair, splashing water everywhere around her. Is that his imagination, or is there a faint blue whirl of water surrounding her?

"I-It'll be alright!" He shouts, reaching out and subsequently almost falling off. "I'll go look for her right away!" Even if the very thought of coming anywhere close to that siren makes him want to cry... "She should be around here somewhere, and they couldn't have gotten far if Seo-san's still being very, um, violent. J-Just wait here!" Without waiting for a response (even though it's rude! But it's not like he can waste any more time, and Sakura-san might start crying again, and he's not the best at comforting crying girls), he turns around and runs back into the ship's interior.

He had definitely thought that he could simply follow the sounds of roaring and shouts of pain, but the ship is deathly silent, which Wakamatsu decides to assume is _not_ a good thing - at least, for Sakura-san and Seo, anyway. There's still a distinct trail of water on the floor, so he follows it diligently, tracing it all the way to the bottom, where the storage room is. (It had been quite hard to make his way through and still follow the trail that had gotten fainter and fainter, since the lights were mostly turned off around here.) Cautiously pushing the door to the storage open, he feels the wall for a light switch until... well, there is no light switch. It's dark as the night in here, too, but it doesn't look like he has a choice. He sighs, resigned to his fate, and navigates his way as best as he can until he hears what sounds like hissing.

Wakamatsu is almost - _almost_ \- tempted to call out "Seo-san?". He doesn't. That would be a very foolish thing to do, after all. There's no doubt that the siren would have heard his footsteps by now, especially if even her hearing was enhanced, but if she _was_ here, she'd been oddly silent... besides the hissing, unless there was a snake in here, which the student duly hopes isn't the case.

So he simply picks his way through the maze-like room, pushing away sacks and crates, trying to see where the hissing is coming from. (He really, _really_ hopes it's not a snake.) When he bumps his head against a wall, he hears a muffled snort from somewhere to his right. With an alarmed (and slightly embarrassed) squeak, he turns around to face Seo Yuzuki... in a cage.

"Seo-san?" He manages.

She nods, though it's barely visible in the darkness of the room. Wakamatsu gulps, before he notices the gag around her mouth. Though he knows his purpose is to be helping the siren, he can't help but think that the gag had been a pretty good idea. "Um... your mouth..."

Seo gives him a Look. It's a Look that clearly says "yes, I know, why do you think I'm not talking" and, at the same time, "now that you've seen it, mind taking it off of me already? I can't breathe like this, you know". Wakamatsu sees that Seo-san does indeed have a way with Looks. "R-Right, sorry," he murmurs, bending down to come eye level with the imprisoned siren, and wriggles his arms through the bars.

Wakamatsu Hirotaka, with his imaginative imagination, did not imagine that he would be in a ship's storage room, helping out a mythical creature that was renowned for being what were evidently labeled as mass murderers. While the said mythical creature is only half-clothed. It makes him rather weak in the knees (though he's bending down) and sick in the stomach (though he hasn't eaten anything this morning). It takes a little fidgeting, but he manages to get the gag loose enough for it to fall off the siren's face completely. After a few seconds of staring at each other, Wakamatsu says, "Seo-san?"

"What?" she answers gruffly, clearly not in her best mood.

"Do you, um... get weaker on land? Your wrists-" he gestures weakly at her bound hands, "are tied, but you could break out of them easily in the water, right?"

"If I stay on land for too long, I'll shrivel up and die," she says. There is not a hint of alarm to her voice. "Bu' yeah, you're right. You're light 'nough for me to carry, bu' these guys are pretty good at this tying thing. I bet they've got a kink for this kinda thing."

There are a few seconds of silence.

" _What!?_ " Wakamatsu all but shrieks. Seo wriggles around uncomfortably, shifting to get into a better position. "Why're - You could've... You could've _told_ me about that! A-And how long, really?! Why can't you stay on land longer?! Sirens are just humans with enhanced senses and voices that can kill, right?!" Actually, he was fairly sure those weren't humans at all by that point, but it was too late to take that back now without sounding lame.

"M' skin's, y'know, a little drier than others," Seo says, eying her arms critically. "Though it's mostly based on your health. Some can stay up 'till, like, five hours, others three or one. I've never actually, uh, bothered tryin' t' know what my limit is. So, like, maybe thirty minutes or twenty. I've just lost ten-ish minutes, I think." There is a pause, where Wakamatsu is too scared to say much of anything else and Seo is contemplating what else there is to say before her estimated thirty (or twenty) minutes are up. "Get me outta here, will you?"

With some adjusting, Seo manages to turn her body around for Wakamatsu to untie the unexpectedly tight rope around the siren's wrists. Just as the student finishes unraveling the long, thick strands and throws them to the side, the ship starts rocking from side-to-side - not exactly threatening, not exactly gently. Wakamatsu yelps, obviously not used to being on a ship at all, while Seo simply blinks amber eyes. "Ahh. They must've docked on th' island already."

"Island? Oh, yes..." Their destination _was_ that one island that Wakamatsu couldn't remember for the life of him. The capture, imprisonment, and unknown freeing of a siren wasn't likely to change that. That reminds him... "Your friend, I think, Sakura-san... she was saying she was going to bring some others to help. But she's... um..."

"Eh? Oh, Chiyo?" Seo thinks about it for a moment, then speaks, "If we're at this island already, then she's prob'ly gonna call for that Mikoshiba guy... I hope she brings Kashima along. Or her fiancé. They're pretty strong."

It's almost as if the siren already knows that she's going to be rescued. Wakamatsu doesn't know whether that means she just trusts Sakura Chiyo _that_ much, or if she's just absolutely full of herself. He's leaning towards the latter, because he's actually talked to Seo.

"Um, the cage..." He starts.

"Huh? Oh, yeah," she says, as if musing, dragging one of her long nails across the metal bars. It makes a screeching noise that makes Wakamatsu want to curl up into a ball and sink into the floor, but Seo shows no change in expression to the horrid sound. "I dunno... this thing's locked, obviously. So, uh... a key... we need a key, right?"

"Wait, hold on," Wakamatsu yelps. "Since when did _this_ turn into 'we'? You got caught by yourself, you know."

"Yeah, but _you_ were the one who fell 'sleep last night so I had t' carry ya t' your room-"

" _How did you know where my room was?_ "

"-an' so I'm pritty sure some dude saw me, bu' I di'n't really think 'bout it, an' so it's _technic'lly_ your fault." She nods sagely, as if this solves everything somehow. "Ya see?"

"Al _right_ , so it's my fault for some incredibly long-winded reason," Wakamatsu relents, because arguing with Seo Yuzuki doesn't sound like something he wants to get involved in (he doesn't want to get involved with _Seo Yuzuki_ in general, but here he is, so what can he do). "But that doesn't matter now. You're slurring your words like a drunk. I'll go back up and talk to Sakura-san, and then we can think of how to get you out, okay? Is that fine?"

"'M not some insane psychopath in a mental ward, Waka," she snaps, though there's no real bite to it. "So stop talkin' t' me like I am."

"Yes, yes," he says absentmindedly, trying not to jolt violently at the sound of the unwanted nickname. Standing up, he checks his wristwatch - it's about ten in the morning, which would mean that it had been at least nine forty when Seo had been "captured". She certainly isn't drying up like a wilted flower, but her skin is growing paler and paler, and that definitely isn't good. Ten minutes is all he can allow himself. "I'll just be a minute, so try not to, I don't know, attract attention by making a racket down here. Okay?"

"I heard you the _first time_ ," the siren growls. Wakamatsu wisely decides to refrain from saying that that _was_ the first time. Instead, he nods, then walks over to the door (or where he _supposes_ is the door) after sparing one last glance over at the grumbling Seo. It's obvious the lack of water around her isn't doing her temper any good.

Then the door slams open.

Wakamatsu freezes in his tracks. Seo lets out an unamused noise, huddling tighter in her cloak. A man stands by the doorway, expression shocked, panting heavily. In the back of his mind, Wakamatsu recognizes him as the same man who helped pull him up onto the ship they're all on right now.

"You-!" is as far as the man gets, before lo and behold, a blur of orange and red flies straight at him, making both the poor man and whatever that... thing is go toppling to the ground. A high-pitched, feminine voice joins the array of yells filling the room (namely, Wakamatsu's and the man's). From the distance, he can hear someone shouting " _Chiyo-chan!?_ " and another voice, "How violent!?".

Belatedly, Wakamatsu notices the giant fish tail flopping about atop the man. This fish tail, scales tinted a dainty pink, is attached to the torso of a teenage girl, who he realizes is Sakura Chiyo from ten minutes ago. Sakura Chiyo is currently pounding her little fists on the man's face, and why is no one stopping her?

"Ahh, Chiyo!" Seo calls from the corner, seemingly recovered from the sudden burst of activity. "Hit 'im good an' hard! Put 'im in a Sleep spell while yer at it!"

"Yuzuki!" Sakura squeaks, all attention now focused on the barely-visible siren behind several crates. "Are you alright? You're not hurt, right? I'm sorry! I'm so-" Then she promptly gets shoved back out of the storage, with a painful-sounding _thump_.

The man scrambles backwards, still on his rear, looking thoroughly alarmed. "A m-m-m-mermaid! A _mermaid?!_ "

"That _hurt_ ," the mermaid says, voice in a low whine. Before Wakamatsu can react (rush over to Sakura and check her for injuries; it's become a habit, being in the basketball team), two things happen at once:

One - the man stands up and starts walking out of the storage room, presumably towards where Sakura Chiyo and her friends are, a determined (yet nervous) expression on his face.

Two - from behind him, Wakamatsu hears a low, and very angry, growl, followed quickly by a resounding _clang_. And then - a blur.

* * *

Mikoshiba Mikoto's 3 Easy Steps On Saving Your Siren Friend(?):

1\. Answer the conch shell your mermaid friend gave you when she calls you at the ungodly hour of ten in the morning. Listen to what she says ("Yuzuki's been caught! _Yuzuki's been caught!_ Mikoriiiin, please please please help!" etc.), then fling the covers off of you and rush to awaken the master of the house. (You should have been sleeping in another room with your best friend and the newcomer, after all.) Once everyone has been awakened, try convincing the newcomer to stay put in his room. Fail, because he wants "reference" ("This would be good for when Mamiko inevitably gets kidnapped by some thugs, right!" Alternatively: Fail, and then gawk when he doesn't so much as blink at the existence of mermaids). Rush out to the beach while following your mermaid friend's instructions on the phone... conch shell.

2\. Listen to your mermaid friend's insistent orders to bring a container for her. Have your best friend (or the one who runs the fastest) return to the house and bring back a sizable container, big enough for your mermaid friend to fit in, but easy enough to carry while running around on an unsteady ship. ("Hurry up, hurry _up!_ We're running out of time!" "And whose fault do you think that is!?") Lift your mermaid friend up and place her in the water-filled container. Enter the ship as subtly as you can while your mermaid friend repeatedly asks where your siren friend is on the phone. Conch shell. Whatever. Calm your mermaid friend down when your siren friend accidentally(?) crushes the conch shell on her end in one hand. Make your way down to the storage room as best as you can while trying not to crash against one another.

3\. Arrive at the storage room. Find man, presumably one of the ship's workers, opening the door with a suspicious-looking weapon clipped onto his belt and a ring of keys. Try not to scream when your mermaid friend just about flies out of her container and attacks the grown man with her tiny fists and her giant fish tail. When your mermaid friend is pushed back by the man, gather her back in your arms and settle her in the container. (Mermaids, especially your mermaid friend, are not to be out of the water for more than a few minutes, if possible.) When your siren friend suddenly lunges out of the shadows to latch onto the man, it is now acceptable to scream (but only for a few seconds, lest your screaming attract the attention of _other_ ship workers). When your siren friend is finally torn away from the man, who should be bleeding in at least two different places from your siren friend's nails, follow the master of the house's lead and get the _hell_ out of that Goddamn storage room.

Optional: Watch the reunion scene between your mermaid and siren friend, and between the newcomer and the... other newcomer. They're both tall and they both seem to know each other. This makes you feel rather out of place. Well, whatever.

* * *

They stop by the last set of stairs they'd have to take in order to return to the deck. With the container (actually a very old, and very large aquarium) now weighed down by both Sakura and Seo, it had needed two people to lift it up. At the very least, Wakamatsu notes, the siren's skin isn't as frighteningly pale as it had been just mere minutes ago.

It had been a shock to see Nozaki-sempai, definitely, mostly because he hadn't seen anyone else around him at the site of the shipwreck just a day ago. So when Nozaki Umetarou drifts into his line of sight, Wakamatsu just about stops moving and stands there, looking vaguely like he was about to fall over if there was a breeze. Then, after regaining his bearings, he'd rushed over to the older student and tackled him with a hug. Thankfully, despite being a basketball player, Wakamatsu hadn't hit him too hard. Or, well, too hard to _injure_ , at least. They had fallen to the floor, though, but whatever. He had no idea how all the coincidences in his life had joined together to become this one big Coincidence, with a capital 'C', but he thanked whatever gods had planned this anyway.

Similarly, Wakamatsu had no idea how Seo had broken out of her cage with her limited strength on land. At least now, he can think that Seo Yuzuki and Sakura Chiyo really are good friends. Great friends, even, considering that they called each other by their first names without hesitation. Once the man had been shoved into the cage himself (just in case) and locked in as best as possible, though, Sakura had grabbed Seo right off the floor and shoved her in the aquarium along with her, and proceeded to give her a long lecture on avoiding humans, so on and so forth. Seo looked like she had fallen asleep with her eyes open thirty seconds in, which Wakamatsu, alarmingly enough, wasn't even surprised by.

They'd had to duck out of sight as best as they could, being a large group (along with carrying an aquarium, because that doesn't exactly call for subtlety) and in the middle of a completely straight and not-suited-for-hiding hallway. From a distance, Sakura had cast something that looked like a spell (Wakamatsu had _no idea_ that mermaids could use magic (or that mermaids even _existed_ ), but there Sakura was), causing anyone who walked by to collapse to the ground in a deep sleep. It worked, but even Sakura had started to tire despite being lifted up like she were a princess (along with Seo - but she was excused, having been out of land for longer than any siren with her limit should), and that cobalt-haired person and the brown-haired one - the two people carrying the aquarium - were both panting heavily by the time they had reached the foot of the last set of stairs, so they decided it couldn't hurt to rest a while, just enough for them to reach the island unnoticed. (Yeah, right, like that would happen.)

While Sakura, Seo, and that cobalt-haired person talk amongst themselves, the brunet jumping in every now and then to counter something the other said, the redhead fills Wakamatsu in on everything that's happened. (This redhead, Wakamatsu is informed, is named Mikoshiba Mikoto, and about the same age as Nozaki. He decides to call him Mikoshiba-sempai, just to be safe.) At first, Wakamatsu _wants_ to be even just a little skeptical on Sakura and Seo's interference between the humans' lives and the possibility of an island inhabited mostly by shipwrecked victims, but with the new discovery of mermaids and sirens being real, Wakamatsu can't even bring himself to ask much. (He also now knows that the cobalt-haired person is named Kashima Yuu, and the brunet Hori Masayuki. Mikoshiba mentions that Hori is the master of the mansion Kashima, Mikoshiba, and Nozaki are currently staying in, but he doesn't speak a word about Kashima's status. Wakamatsu doesn't ask, mostly because he's a little intimidated by them all.)

"Chiyo-chan, can't you just use that Teleport spell of yours?" Kashima asks, sweat visible on the side of her face.

Sakura winces. "Sorry, Kashima-kun! I don't think it'd work for all of us... I haven't gotten to the point where I can Teleport others, too, only myself. Ahh, I _knew_ I should have trained harder... maybe I should Teleport myself out of here so you'd only have to carry Yuzuki?" She lifts up the conch shell she had placed beside her. "We can use this if you need my help. Mikorin, you still have yours, right?"

Mikoshiba (Mikorin? What kind of nickname is that? The redhead certainly doesn't look like a "Mikorin"...) nods, still looking a little nervous about basically having just infiltrated a ship. "Yeah, uh- are you sure you have to go, or whatever? I mean..."

"Aw, did you want to be together?" Sakura giggles softly, reaching over to pat Mikoshiba's messy tuft of hair. The redhead blinks, red dusting his cheeks. "Don't worry, I'll be just in the water. Then, I'll be seeing you!" She waves, before disappearing in a faint _pop._ Seo sighs, contentedly stretching her legs as far as they can go in the aquarium.

"Ah. This feels nice."

"Yeah, _you're_ not the one carrying you and your watery throne, you know," Hori grumbles, obviously disgruntled about this. "The captain of this ship should have been notified that they have a siren, a damn _mythical creature_ , on board. He should have gone down here by now..."

Something seems to dawn on Kashima's face when he says this, because she immediately whirls around to face Nozaki, as does Mikoshiba. "Nozaki, the captain, that's the editor we were talking about! You know, maybe once we've got this mess sorted out, we can introduce you! Right, Mikoshiba, Hori-chan-sempai?"

Nozaki chokes out " _Editor-_ " at the same time "Hori-chan-sempai" says "That Miyamae guy? Uh, sure, I think he'll be staying in town for a few days before they head out again."

When the word processes itself in Wakamatsu's head, he turns to face Nozaki, eyes wide. "Editor! Isn't that great, Nozaki-sempai - you've been wanting a new editor for ages!" _Quite literally!_ Wakamatsu mentally adds. For the rest of the short break, Kashima, Mikoshiba, and Hori (... -chan-sempai) talk amongst themselves about this Miyamae person (that name sounds a little familiar, for some reason... was Wakamatsu's memory just running a little short after the sudden happenings this morning?), Nozaki absorbing every word they speak. Seo looks like she's fallen asleep in her little private aquarium, not-so-soft snores coming from her direction every few seconds.

Eventually, Hori persuades them, mostly Kashima, to get up and get going. Surprisingly enough, no one had gone down to check on the storage room, which is all well and good because Sakura had since returned to the water, taking her Sleep spell with her. A suggested tactic was to have Hori carry the aquarium and Kashima to knock anyone who was passing by, but that was vetoed quickly, mostly because Hori did not particularly want to carry the aquarium on his own. Another tactic had been the exact same, but instead of knocking them out, Kashima would simply dazzle them with her "talent". Wakamatsu had no idea what Mikoshiba was saying, but Hori had shut that option down as well (though Kashima didn't seem too opposed to it), so it seems like he'll never know.

They'd simply decided on skirting around as best as they could, which largely translated to "decided that you only live once and getting caught shouldn't be too bad, right, ha ha". When they start walking again, Wakamatsu trails behind Kashima (who's gone back to being the only one carrying the aquarium, due to something she had said a few minutes ago; Wakamatsu really'd rather not know, honestly), absentmindedly watching the dozing Seo Yuzuki in her container.

It's clear he hadn't been focusing at all when the siren props her elbows up on the edge of the aquarium, peering down at him with a completely blank face, the only discernible emotion possible being curiosity, and he hadn't even noticed. Kashima lets out a little squawk at this, the balance having changed significantly, but tromps on when Hori turns around to shoot her a look that clearly demanded silence. Then Seo leans over even more (the poor cobalt-haired girl's shoulders are trembling now) and flicks Wakamatsu's forehead.

" _Ow-_ " He looks up, clutching the injured spot. It really does hurt. Why does Seo Yuzuki have seemingly excellent forehead-flicking skills? "Seo-san! Why would you-"

"No, no," she says, and for some reason, it's not a dismissive "no, no". Wakamatsu pauses at the strange lack of emotion in her voice. "I've got a question for _you_. Why did you help me?"

There's a stunned silence for a moment. Mikoshiba, who had clearly been listening in from behind, seems to blink in surprise. There's the audible scratching of pencil on paper. Wakamatsu feels his mind blank out. "... I, sorry, um-"

"You didn't look like you heard me," Seo says, slowly. "Why did you help me?" Every word is emphasized clearly, which, of course, simply makes everything at least ten percent more awkward. Kashima's footsteps have gone quiet, though she's still walking, but at a slightly slower pace, and even Hori, who's leading at the front, is glancing backwards every few paces in curiosity.

"... W-Was that wrong?" He manages. "Sakura-san, she - um-" Why had he decided to help her again, when she'd nearly killed him and Nozaki-sempai, and had _definitely_ killed hundreds, maybe even thousands of other people? (Maybe because he'd gotten just, just a little, just _slightly_ attached-? ... No, of course not.) He thinks back as best as he can - so many things had happened that one morning seemed like five years - and he remembers how he'd talked to a sobbing Sakura Chiyo and _realized_ that if Seo died, then someone would be sad, even if it were just one person. Someone would be sad for her.

It was, of course, nothing compared to perhaps the countless number of people Seo had made more than just a little sad over the years, and if he were to save her, she'd simply continue making more and more people bend over graves and lay flowers that will wilt in a few days. But there was something, _something_ that made him stop for a few moments, when Sakura Chiyo had been crying over her friend's imminent doom, that made him think, _Seo-san is in trouble and I have to help her_ , and that was all it took for Wakamatsu Hirotaka. "Because-" he blanches, but continues as best as he can. "Because I thought you might need it?"

There is a heavy silence. Seo stares at him without a change in her expression from her spot up in the aquarium. There's the sound of palm smacking against face from behind. "I was gonna shrivel up and die if you left me down there for thirty more minutes. Like... _of course_ I'd need help, you know? But, hey-" she waves her hand in the air, and Wakamatsu is almost _relieved_ to hear the familiar loftiness in her voice, "- _I_ kept you warm when you were 'bout to freeze to death out there, so now it looks like we're even."

" _What?_ " The poor student squeaks, but Seo's ducked down underwater nonchalantly before he can get another word out. He tries again, nevertheless. "W-What did you say? Seo-san! Don't just _ignore_ me, I know you can hear me-"

Wakamatsu (and Kashima and Mikoshiba's stifled laughter) is interrupted by footfalls. Quite heavy ones, at that, accompanied by slightly lighter, faster ones. The group goes deathly silent, except for Seo, who seems not to notice as she peacefully blows bubbles up to the surface of her aquarium.

Hori throws a door to the side open and ushers them inside without a word, rushing inside and locking it as soon as everyone is cramped in the room. It looks like an empty room for one of the ship workers, but the bed is made and there isn't anything on the desk or the floor; evidently enough, the ship worker who slept in here must already have left somewhere. Hori then pushes a table to block the door as best as it can, while Kashima sets Seo's aquarium down on the bed, collapsing onto the floor in relief. Mikoshiba takes a seat on a chair as well, looking like he's about to go into cardiac arrest with the way he's all but stopped breathing, looking at the door with wide red eyes.

"Don't make a noise," Hori hisses, and four heads nod simultaneously. Seo doesn't even bat an eye.

The footfalls slow down a little, and they seem to grow louder and louder until the (presumably) two people come to a stop just right beside the room they're in. All five teenagers seem to be holding their breath. Snatches of their conversation can be heard;

"-siren! A _live siren!_ I've read about these creatures before, Ken-san, and believe me, they're nothing to be fooled with! Their voices can _kill_ , and they have, _countless_ times-"

"Next you'll be telling me there are _mermaids_ , Maeno-"

"There actually are, you know-"

" _That wasn't the point._ A _siren?_ A creature that only exists in the wild, drunken tales of sailors? I still remember when I got a submission for an alien character and you jumped on the opportunity to make that Miyako kid incorporate it into her manga. I don't think I've ever felt that sorry for someone before. Who says this just isn't another story you've made up?"

"It's not, _really_ , Ken-san, when have I _ever_ lied to you before-?"

"Plenty of times. You sure have some selective memory."

The footsteps start up again, though much slower this time, as if just a walk in the park. Everyone collectively breathes out a sigh of relief; except, of course, Seo, but this time, she looks completely alert, sitting up in her aquarium. Just as Hori signals everyone to stay quiet for a little more, a low, vaguely animal-like growl escapes the blonde's lips. "That... That..."

"Seo-san?" Wakamatsu whispers worriedly, at the same time Kashima tilts her head to side questioningly with an inquiring "Sensei?"

"It's _him,_ " Seo hisses, not unlike a snake, the water suddenly churning in waves and splashing out of the container. Mikoshiba scuttles away in fright, and Nozaki watches with morbid interest. "It's that _asshole_ who thought to catch me like I'm some common _fish_ , the _same_ asshole who tried to _hurt_ -!"

And before anyone can so much as blink, the siren's shot out from her aquarium and crashing straight towards the door, causing it to fly open, even with its lock, the poor thing dangling off its hinges. Mikoshiba makes a strangled noise at the back of his throat; Hori looks like all the blood has been drained from his face; Nozaki's and Kashima's jaws drop at the sight; Wakamatsu feels as if he's about to faint. Following the blonde are streams of water flying out from the aquarium, zooming straight at one tall figure in particular, the white-haired one of the duo, the one Wakamatsu can just barely recognize as the same man who had convinced him not to come near Seo when she had been inches away from tearing someone's eye out. Maeno Mitsuya makes a panicky noise and the other, shorter man ( _Miyamae Ken-san, the captain, of_ course, Wakamatsu remembers) stumbles backwards, raising his arms in defense, then lowering them after a few seconds when he's still completely dry.

Maeno isn't. He's also lying on the floor, with Seo Yuzuki pouncing upon him and wasting no time in plunging her claws straight into-

" _Seo-san!_ "

The siren's movements falter, Wakamatsu standing just by the doorway and looking totally petrified. That one second, everything, everyone is still, and that one second is all Maeno needs.

He pushes the blonde off of him, causing Seo to tumble onto the painfully dry floor and withdraws a gun from his coat, holding it in front of him with shaking hands. "Stay back, siren! And don't you _dare_ open that mouth of yours!"

"Maeno!" Miyamae snaps, but even he's looking between the white-haired man and Seo Yuzuki cautiously. The siren, meanwhile, just looks dazed and her expression clearly says she might slightly regret not killing him as soon as possible. Wakamatsu is standing shock-still at the sight of the firearm; when Hori rushes out beside him, opening his mouth as if to say something, he closes it just as quickly when he sees the situation.

"Sensei-!?"

"Holy _shit_ -"

"W-Wakamatsu, step a _way_ -"

"Maeno, _put that down,_ " Miyamae snarls, and Maeno hesitantly takes his eyes off of the dizzy Seo to face his captain. "There are _kids_ over there. I don't know about this woman, siren or not, but just _put that away_ before you kill someone."

"But, but Ken-san-"

" _Now_ , Maeno."

Reluctantly, Maeno replaces his gun back inside his coat, keeping his gaze down at Seo all throughout. All murderous intent seems to have gone from the siren, however, as she looks like she's passed out onto the floor, which only makes Wakamatsu even more panicky. There isn't any water left in the aquarium, either, since Seo had taken it all out to drench Maeno from head to toe. The same realization hits the rest of the group, as their eyes evidently widen in terror. Seo hadn't been able to recuperate that much from the short amount of time she'd spent in the water. If she's on land for any longer than she can take-

"Aren't you those kids from the island we've just docked on?" Miyamae asks in puzzlement, looking over at Hori. "Why are you-"

"Sorry, Ken-san, but we've _really got to go!_ " Kashima squeaks, jumping up and down in place, clearly panicking over Seo's state. "Our - friend - she's a little, uh, um, _tired_ right now-"

"You're _friends_ with this siren?" Maeno yelps, stepping away even more until he's effectively hiding behind his captain. A vein pops on Miyamae's forehead. "How hasn't she, I don't know, killed anyone yet-!?"

On the floor, Seo twitches slightly and mumbles something about water. Wakamatsu, evidently about to have heart palpitations if one more second is wasted with the siren on dry land, scoops the blonde up in his arms (and somehow managing not to wince at her painfully light weight - is she unhealthy or just really, really light? Nothing can possibly be _this_ light, after all) and turns to look at the two, noticing Maeno's hand inching closer towards the inside of his coat once more. "I'm sorry, Maeno-san, Miyamae-san, but as Kashima-kun said, we've really got to go!" And without waiting for a response, he zooms off to where he hopes is the ship's deck where he can dump Seo overboard. Not exactly the most graceful way of getting her back to decent health, but it will have to do.

He stumbles twice on the stairs, but Nozaki and Kashima have already caught up, running on both sides of him. Kashima leads, since she obviously knows the layout of the ship better than the other two, and they're outside in minutes. Several ship workers who are still on board gape at the sight of three teenagers and the siren from before being carried by one. In his arms, Wakamatsu can feel Seo's grip on his shirt loosening, her breaths becoming more shallow-

He doesn't waste a second and dashes towards the railing, carelessly flinging the siren overboard and, with a great _splash_ , into the water, hard enough to send droplets of saltwater splattering all over his face and clothes - and they are a _long_ way up. After a second or two, a panicked squeak comes from somewhere on the other side of the ship and something swimming in an alarmingly fast speed towards where Seo had been literally thrown over. In another few breathless moments, Kashima murmurs, "I'm starting to think, like, tossing a very frail body from a high height wasn't your best decision." Beat. "I would have done it too, though."

"Is that - the mermaid? Sakura-san?" Nozaki bends over the railing as best as he can without overdoing it, likely because joining the siren isn't on his list of things to do.

Indeed, it is Sakura Chiyo, her head popping up from the water nervously, then brightening when she sees the familiar faces. "Kashima-kun, Wakamatsu-kun, N-Nozaki-kun! Yuzuki, she, um-" she looks downwards into the water for a moment, before continuing, "What happened to her? She didn't go on _land_ again, did she?"

Reluctantly, Wakamatsu and Kashima retell what had happened once Sakura had Teleported away. By the end of the little tale, the poor mermaid's face had gone as white as a sheet as she looks back and forth from the water (presumably where she's carrying Seo) and up to the three teenagers, all of them looking slightly guilty even if nothing had been their fault. Then, with a sigh as if Seo almost dies everyday (which, knowing the siren, doesn't sound particularly unlikely), Sakura nods, though she still looks a little paler than usual. "Okay... Alright... Well, if she doesn't move too much and rest in bed, she should be fine in about a few days... we mercreatures aren't supposed to be up on land too many times in a short amount of time..." She continues mumbling to herself until she realizes the trio above her are blinking blankly. "R-Right! Well - ah, where's Hori-sempai and Mikorin?"

As if on cue, the brunet and redhead exit and arrive next to the three, Hori looking distinctly ruffled and Mikoshiba immediately gladdening at the familiar sight of Sakura below them. "Had to make up a whole lot of excuses, you know," Hori grumbles, rubbing the back of his head. "Maeno's probably going to be stalking us every second he's on the island. Time to lay low a bit, so you'll have to settle for phone conversations this time, Mikoshiba."

"Oh, uh, right." The redhead glances down at Sakura, who smiles politely (and weakly) up at him. "I guess so, but what about Seo? She's fine, right?"

Sakura nods. "A few days should be fine... unless she starts sneaking out of the house again, I'll have to chase after her with Ryousuke-kun or else Yuzuki's going to feel faint again..."

Then the ship workers around them start peering over the edge of the ship as well, and so Sakura has to duck below the water before anyone can catch her. Hori, with great difficulty and impressive patience, shoos them away and leads the way to the ship's exit. Wakamatsu is only too happy to follow.

* * *

As expected, Maeno greets them at the doorway of Hori Masayuki's mansion. He doesn't look totally surprised at the lack of siren company with them, but he keeps a very close eye on Wakamatsu. This, as also expected, leads to him pulling the youngest student away for a "short conversation".

"You stopped that siren from killing me with just a shout of its name," Maeno says, looking downright confused. "Who are you to it? Are you its best friend or something? Significant other?"

"N-No! Nothing like that!" Wakamatsu stammers. "And Seo-san is a she, Maeno-san, not an 'it'... and I think she would have stopped if anyone else had said it, like Kashima-sempai or Hori-sempai. I think she was just, um, surprised, or distracted when I yelled..." He hadn't really been thinking a while ago, just that he knew that when a siren is about to claw a person's eye out, you're to make at least some effort to stop them. "And it was just a fit of rage, I think, since she recognized you as the one who organized the capture... Maybe she was just confused?"

"I've read up on sirens, boy," Maeno says, sounding wise as he lays a hand on Wakamatsu's shoulder, making him feel more of a child than ever. (He also knows Maeno is not exactly as wise as he makes himself seem.) "And not to toot my own horn here, but I know more about sirens than anyone else in the ship's crew. Sirens don't just have 'fits of rage' everyday. They get highly protective of their friends and family, and they only really become like that if someone hurts a person they love. So if you two aren't long-lost siblings or the sort, then it's clear to me that it - she," he amends, due to Wakamatsu's half-hearted glare, "is fond of you. Quite a lot, too."

"... Me?" Wakamatsu says, after a while, because he can hardly believe it. "Even if she did like me... which she doesn't, by the way, I know... this's got nothing to do with me. She heard your voice from the door and burst outside after muttering something about how _you_ were the one who arranged the capture and... and the one who tried to... hurt...?" He blinks, then shakes his head, as if trying to clear up some dust in his brain. "You didn't _hurt_ anybody before that that she knows, did you?"

Maeno nods importantly, and even Wakamatsu can't help but feel just a tiny bit convinced that this man knows what he's talking about - well, some of it, at least. "Don't you remember? I talked to you in plain sight this morning, told you not to come close to her. She must have misinterpreted that as me trying to hurt you, though I can't see why good old me would try to hurt anybody." He sighs and brushes his silver hair back dramatically as Wakamatsu struggles not to mention that the very same "good old him" had pulled a gun on a group of teenagers just minutes before. "Anyway, I'll let today pass, but if I see that siren aboard our ship one more time, you likely won't be there to stop me. Sirens, no matter how friendly they may be, are still a threat to ships all over the world. Keep an eye out for them, will you?"

After Maeno leaves, Wakamatsu giving a nervous wave after him, the student returns to the relative safety of the household, still feeling as if he's somewhere he shouldn't be. Hori tells him to share a room with Nozaki until they're ready to leave whenever, which leads Wakamatsu to the thought of, well, leaving. Returning home. Summer break isn't going to last forever, after all.

So with Nozaki-sempai sitting by the table, pencil on paper, and Wakamatsu on the edge of the other bed they had just moved in, he decides to bring up the topic. "Nozaki-sempai?"

"Mm?" The comforting noise of pencil scratches stop, which must mean the student has his full attention. Or most of it, anyway.

"You stayed here yesterday too, right? Do you know how we're going to get back? We must be pretty far from home... d'you think Miyamae-san's ship is going back there?"

Nozaki pauses. "Maybe... there should probably be some more info in the harbor, so we can go there whenever you want." _I'm in no hurry, after all,_ Wakamatsu can hear, though it isn't said vocally.

"Okay." A short silence, where Wakamatsu almost expects the scritch-scratch to return, but it doesn't. "Nozaki-sempai, I'm really glad you're okay, you know?"

"Yeah." Pause. "I'm glad you're alright, too, Wakamatsu."

* * *

Against all rational thought and Hori-sempai's warnings, Wakamatsu returns to the beach, but only after checking that Maeno isn't anywhere in the near vicinity. He had overheard that the ship workers and the captain would be out for supplies the other day, and the beach likely isn't a place for ship supplies, unless they had been talking about sea shells, which the student now has a great abundance of. They'd make a pretty picture on his table, after all, so what's the harm in a little collecting while he's here?

After stuffing his pockets full of the colorful shells, Wakamatsu takes a seat just by the water, near enough for his pants to get damp. He, of course, has no idea how he's going to pay Hori-sempai and the rest back, mostly because he doesn't have any money with him, and even if he _did_ , it wouldn't be of much use, seeing as Mikoshiba had mentioned that Hori was the eldest son of a renowned family. Kashima's identity still remains unknown (though hadn't Seo-san mentioned something about a "fiancé"? Are they, by any chance...), but Wakamatsu finds that he doesn't really care by this point. They're nice to him, and Nozaki-sempai, and are friends with Sakura and Seo, so that must mean they're decent people. (Seo certainly isn't "decent", by any means, but what can you do.) Maybe he could phone his parents, tell them he's got himself a summer job, and would be staying in the island to help out with them? But that would also mean that he would be eating their food and using their electricity, so that plan's gone to waste almost as soon as it was formed.

He sighs and kicks a rock uninterestedly. Until a few days ago, the idea of meeting mermaids and sirens on this little... journey seemed completely implausible, but here he is, having just saved a siren from certain death. And, well, a whole lot more, but meeting Seo seemed to be the kickstarter of everything.

Something splashes behind a few rocks. Wakamatsu barely takes note of it, but then nearly jumps out of his skin when something cold and wet runs down his arm. "G- _Gyah_ -"

"Yooo, Waka," Seo slurs, her eyes heavy and the hood of her cloak astray. "Howssit goin'?"

"Seo-san! You're not supposed to be here!" Wakamatsu gawks, gesturing at her appearance. "Look at you! You're - You're - well, you're supposed to be resting in bed!"

"Huh?" She tilts her head to the side - Wakamatsu reckons it was meant to be just a slight cock, but the siren ends up looking like she's had her neck broken. "Rest is for - for _looosers_. I'm feeling perfectly fine. Sakura's just - just-" Seo waves a hand in the air dismissively, though it's obvious it takes a lot of effort out of her. "Just bein' _ov'rpr'tective_."

"I think it's reacting realistically," the student says dryly. Then, knowing whatever he says isn't likely to breach through the defenses Seo had put up in her head, he settles to make himself a little more comfortable, facing the siren. "Seo-san, a while ago, when you were... attacking... Maeno-san..."

"Wha'bout him?"

Wakamatsu falters. Maybe Maeno had just been reading too much into it? Well, whatever the case, he better ask anyway, just to know. "Why did you do it, really?"

"Well, _obviously_ , 'cause he tried t', t'," Seo seems to struggle with her words, likely because she had forgotten the specific word for it, "t' _cage_ me an' stuff. An' also!" She raises her hand in the air, index finger pointing upward, her whole arm shaking. "I _saw_ 'im! Ya came out of the ship an', an' then he started _talkin'_ t' ya an' ya got this scared expression, so like, he was _scarin'_ ya! ... Wasn't he?" She adds, mostly due to Wakamatsu's stifled laughs. "Don't you go laughin' at me, boy-o!"

"Sorry, sorry," he says, trying to keep his mirth under control. "It's just - he barely even touched me, Seo-san. I think I was mostly just scared of _you_ , at that time. You were thrashing all over the place and you had your claws extended and everything... how could I _not_ have been scared?"

Seo pauses, her hand still in the air. After a few moments, she lets it drop. "Oh."

"Yeah, oh." He smiles, and with a jerk, he realizes it's genuine. Wakamatsu is getting way too friendly with this siren (this _killer_ , this _murderer_ , this- this- _person_ ) and shakes his head, the smile fading as fast as it had come. "A-Anyway, Seo-san, you really should be resting right now. It's not good for you to be-"

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard all a' that already," Seo says, a bored undertone to her voice. "But!" She picks herself up again, nearly bouncing in the water by now. "You're leavin' soon, aren't'cha? Then I gotta give ya a going-'way gift."

Wakamatsu blinks, looking down at the damp hand gripping his tie. "A what?"

When Wakamatsu registers thought in his brain again, he realizes that, for one thing, he can't breathe, but it's not so bad. On second thought, judging by how his stomach feels like someone had dumped a bucket of caterpillars in it and all the caterpillars had turned into butterflies at the same time and were now fluttering about, it isn't even unpleasant. If anything, it's - something. He can't quite find a word for it. But it's not bad, and it's definitely more than - good. It's almost embarrassing to admit it out loud, though mentally.

He also finds that Seo Yuzuki is actually a decent kisser.

* * *

"Ahh, Yuzuki, you just _had_ to get yourself in trouble again!" Sakura sighs, shaking her head like a mother. "When Ryousuke-kun hears about this, he's really going to have your head this time. I wonder how long you'll have to hide in my room again." Distractedly tapping her fingers atop a rock, she perks up at the sound of Yuzuki's brother's voice over the conch shell. "Ryousuke-kun! Hello-"

" _Where the hell is Yuzuki!_ "

Sakura holds the shell at arms-length, her expression showing no change apart from the slight strain in her still-bright smile. "Ah, yes, I'll explain as soon as I get there! Are you at home right now? I think Yuzuki might need some of that medicine from the kelpie clinic. There's still some in the drawer, right? I hope she won't use all of it, those are pretty expensive."

"Sakura..." Seo Ryousuke's voice takes on a more exasperated tone rather than pure rage and/or concern. The mermaid obediently holds the conch shell a little closer to her ear. "Are you sure Yuzuki's with you right now?"

"What? Of course she-"

The siren is nowhere to be found.

"-isn't. _ByeRyousuke-kun!_ "

" _SAKURA-_ "

* * *

 **If you want more background notes and info, you're better off checking my AO3, which can be found in my profile, along with a link to Siren!Seo. By the way, I wrote much of this on Evernote, which doesn't show me the word count, so I only found out it was about 16k when I moved it to Word. I, uh, don't blame me, please.**

 _ **Slacker, 5/8/15**_


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